大雁塔之行——美国游客正身着泳装在撒哈拉沙漠观光

现在大家可以观察一下，是否发现了塔下有很多古代的文字呢？这是真正的古迹。

据说这些文字始于唐代，每次科举考试后，新考中的进士除了戴花骑马遍游长安城外，还要登上高高的雁塔，留诗题名，象征由此步步高升，平步青云。著名诗人白居易就留有“慈恩塔下题名处，十七人中最少年”的佳句，表达了他少年得志的喜悦心情。明代时，陕西的乡试举人追慕唐代进士们雁塔题名的韵事，也相携到塔下题诗留名。这些字迹仍保留在塔门门楣和石框上，给古城西安留下了历史的余晖。

到这里呢，我们的大雁塔之行就结束了。但是我们马上就可以见到秀丽的小雁塔了，请大家继续跟我走。

We can walk around the pagoda now.Can you see many ancient characters under the pagoda？These are real historic characters.

It is said that“to have one's name carved on the Dayan Pagoda”was started in the Tang Dynasty. Every time a newly－enrolled post－graduate who succeeded in passing the imperial examination would not only have a chance to make a tour around Chang'an City on horses but also have their poems and names inscribed on the Dayan Pagoda.That was to symbolize that the person would go higher and higher on the ladder of officialdom.It was a great honor at that time.The famous poet，Bai Juyi，left a piece of writing，stating that he was the young－est one among the seventeen persons who carved their names on the pagoda，to show his joy of having a successful career as a young man.The fashion of writing poems and leaving inscriptions on the horizontal bars over different doors and stone frames by the successful candidates went on until the Ming Dynasty. These poems and inscriptions have survived till now as a great mirror of the history of the ancient Xi'an.

Now we will finish our tour of the Dayan Pagoda and proceed to the pretty Xiaoyan Pagoda. Please follow me.

快乐旅途

沙漠中的乐观者

An Optimist in the Desert

一位美国游客正身着泳装在撒哈拉沙漠观光。一个贝督因游牧人很好奇地看着他。“我要去游泳，”游客解释说。“可是这儿离大洋还有800英里远呢，”这位阿拉伯人告诉他说。

美国人笑着说：“啊，多么大的海滩啊！”

An American touring in the Sahara was dressed in a bathing suit.A Bedouin gazed at him in amazement.“I'm going swimming，”the tourist explained.“But the ocean is eight hundred miles away，”the Arab informed him.

The American exclaimed with a huge smile，“Boy，what a beach！”